Cytherea Sintongue, former concubine of Red Mother. Known for arranging orgies on her behalf.

Aaaahhh, this is so cool. Marianne does a bounce!

She draws her stick up her sleeve and touches it to her chest. Again she fills the identification construct, moving slowly as to not allocate anymore than it needs. She still has trouble getting it on the line, even spending a full minute on measurement.

"Identify."

Marianne Belor. Newly-awakened Vanir witch. No public exploits.

Marianne will have to change that, if for no reason than that it's an utterly humiliating thing for your identification to say.

She placidly follows Lily when they reach their stop.

She leads the group a couple blocks east, then a block north, and then ducks into an alleyway. There's a small garden tucked in among the buildings here, with a couple chairs and an ornamental archway. 

A woman is sitting in the garden reading a book.

She's blonde and sharp-faced, wearing a loose-fitting shirt and a pair of black slacks. She closes her book as the group approaches.

"Hello, are you lost?"

Cytherea steps forwards. "They're with me, Silver. The one with the black hair's why I'm here talking to you."

The woman's gaze picks out the amulet at Marianne's neck. "Ah, I see." 

She smiles and gestures to the archway. "Don't let me keep you."

Cytherea goes and stands next to the archway. "Lily, would you do the honors?"

Lily steps forwards, eyes closed, and lays a hand on the archway - 

And now the other side of it is a forest ruin, with the sun higher in the sky. Two women are sitting on a bench off to the side, one cuddled up in the arms of the other. They don't startle at the sudden bend in space. One of them waves.

Cytherea waves back, and steps through the portal to the forest ruin.

Come to think of it, she hasn't actually seen a man since her awakening. She guesses femme is the witch black which, cool. She elects not to wonder why; if she were to stop to question every leaf and stone, she runs the risk of her identification reading 'annoying.'

Also is it rude to say 'Identify' instead of 'hi, what's your name?' She's just not going to say anything.

Hop, skip, and a jump.

Lily brings up the rear, and the portal closes behind her.

"Four or so more like that until we get to Hawthorne."

Lily consults her phone and picks an archway.

"Let's keep moving."

She bops an archway with Identify as they walk, only spending a half-second on mana efficiency. It is wasteful but she doesn't like slowing people down.

Cairhan's Folly. Western American hub of the Arcadian portal network, placed in Wyoming for coverage ranging from San Francisco to Kansas City. Space here is folded to prevent crowding.

Lily has the next archway open -

- and Cytherea'a already gone through.

Step.

Marianne's eyes stay fixed on the back of Lillian's head.

And a few portals later, they come out into a public square in a huge cavern full of victorian-esque buildings. It's lit as if by very strong moonlight, but there's no moon overhead; instead there is an upside-down city, just as full of life as the one they've stepped into. A brigade of six skeletons tromps past, led by a four-foot-nothing witch with fox ears; street vendors are selling fried squid, poutine, ramen and hot dogs; there are stalls around the edge of the square, touting everything from crystals to ginseng. There is much hustle and bustle; almost everyone is a woman in a hat and a set of robes. Couriers on broomstick dart up and down in the inconsistent gravity. People are standing around brass circles in the square, bargaining with little horned creatures about three feet tall. 

A broad flight of stairs across the square from the freestanding arches goes up, up, up to a gothic clocktower at the centre of an honest-to-god castle, lit by little glowing balls of fire that hover in midair of their own accord. 

"Welcome to the House of Hawthorne," says Cytherea. "An ye harm none, do what you will."

Lily steps forwards, trailing the group, and lets the portal close behind her. "I'm assuming the castle is the academy?"

"Got it in one. See you two around, I have things to do."